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Published: September 30th 2017
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At the Mt. Ida Trailhead.
Elevation here was 10,759 ft. At our turn around spot on Mt. Ida it was 12,640 per my GPS. Geo: 40.2522, -105.823
After arrival on our first day in Grand
Lake, we took a short hike to a pretty waterfall,
Adams Falls, just to stretch our legs and get a
little bit used to the altitude. It wasn't enough
to get us acclimated but, at around 8,500 feet,
it told us that we definitely were not used to
hiking at that level or higher. Doing the hike
I particularly wanted to do would not be easy.
I had done some research on the available
hikes, and the trail to Mt. Ida sounded perfect
to me – on paper at least. Starting at an
elevation of 10,760 feet, it was about 4.6 miles
one way along the continental divide to the
summit of Mt Ida at around 12,880 feet.
Since the weather forecast for Wednesday,
our second day there, was favorable while
the next few days were iffy, we went ahead
with our plans to hike to Mt Ida on Wednesday.
As it turned out, that was probably the right
decision since the next few days there were
blustery and noticeably cooler. Even though
we had
The Alpine Visitor Center
The building to the left is a café and gift shop run by a volunteer group supporting the park. The National Park Service Visitor Center is the building to the right with the reinforcing timbers on the roof. In winter, snow is likely to cover the building! a tough time breathing while hiking,
the views were outstanding and well worth the
effort. We did not make it quite to the summit
but got to within about a quarter mile of it at
an elevation of 12,640 feet before our energy
level and time of day dictated that we head back.
Just after we started back down we passed a
group of 3 White-tailed Ptarmigans. They were
not particularly afraid of us or else their defensive
mechanism, in addition to camouflage, is to remain
still. They allowed us to get really close before
moving much at all. Apparently these birds live
in the high mountain areas above the tree line and
change their plumage with the season, becoming
white in winter when it snows. I'll post a picture as
well as a video below.
On Thursday, we drove along the Trail
Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitor Center. At an elevation of 11,796
feet, it is the highest visitor center in the National Park system.
The short Alpine Ridge Trail climbs another 210 feet to the summit of
the ridge above for some beautiful 360 degree views. After that
short
Along the Mt. Ida Trail
A scene from below the tree line. but steep climb, we crossed the road to the trail head for the
Ute Trail and hiked about two miles down it to a nice lunch spot
before returning to the car. We drove back down Trail Ridge Road
toward Grand Lake stopping for a couple of other short trails. One
was a trail to the Colorado River just below its headwaters. Amazing
to think that some of the water that begins here in this small stream
will eventually end up in the Gulf of California – of course that
assumes that the cities and farms along the way haven't totally used
it all up before it gets there. Another short walk that we found was
part of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail which crosses
part of the park en route from Mexico to Canada. Returning to our
room, we spent our last evening in Grand Lake listening to the very
loud music from the lounge in our motel.
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